One issue with having incredibly well trained soldiers, is that when they throw a tantrum, they are able to kill other dwarves easily with a single bare handed strike. This particular dwarf was repeatedly angry at getting into arguments, dwelt on those arguments, and was also frustrated by a lack of trouble-making. She then killed the mayor, a doctor, and 1 of the craftsdwarves with punches and scratches.
This created some space within the population cap for a few more dwarven babies to be born into the fort, but she had to be stopped. Rather than a simple hammering, she's was grouped up with 2 other trouble makers, told to put all their armor back into storage, and given just a single masterwork steel battle axe; Before being sent on a mission to raize the nearby goblin dark pits of Evilglaze. I did allow them to put regular civilian clothes back on first of course, but that masterwork steel armor is too valuable to send on a
suicide mission
for the glory of all Dwarf kind. They came back with a bunch of junk items and completely unharmed, turned around and sent back to get some more. This time against the 50 guarding Rhythmplagues instead of the 10 seemingly ghost occupants of Evilglaze.
While away, a huge quadruped composed of clear glass arrived with a spiral shell, bloated body, and poisonous vapors in the first cavern level. All its limbs were already cracked, so it didn't sound that tough. When the dwarves again returned with garbage as well as their lives, they were sent down to explore that cavern level. Matmeng Ashmonzas had another tantrum and killed her exploration partner. At some point, she also killed the forgotten beast, but the combat log expired by the time I noticed. It must have been an easy fight.
While sending the explorers into the caverns, 1 of the more well adjusted guards got locked in as well, presumably chasing after something to haul somewhere. Able bodied and idle, they were put to work building a rough exile camp. A couple fish were caught and immediately eaten after being processed. 1 wild pigtail and 1 wild cave wheat were harvested and processed to produce another seed which has set farming into motion.
Maybe they'll survive.
It's been slow going moving the bedrooms to the more centralized location. The plan multi-fold: Start off with all masterwork doors, beds, and cabinets, while also training up unskilled dwarves in masonry to stack the deck in favor of more artifact door chances. (The last 2 artifacts have booth been a wooden goblet, and a green glass goblet) Masterworks are rare with such low skill, and I don't want to just strip mine everything for material, so they're all going to be made from obsidian and glass. The surface has been clear cut several times, and the obsidian farm cannot keep up. But the first of 3 bedroom levels is done (not counting a dozen rooms still waiting on cabinets), providing 70 rooms. The next 2 levels each have 90 to leave a few spares once the nobles get their special chambers set up.
While 3 of the 11 elven civilizations bring giant animals each year, the only breeding pair acquired so far have been giant wolves. Trainable for war, I think this is fine. They don't need to graze or be fed, and they are quite fast. I usually let the new giant wolf pups run around the halls for a while before chaining them up with the others. Their population is almost at the level where I'll start having to slaughter them for the sake of FPS, so I'm not sure yet if they'll also provide a good source of meat. I still have hopes for a breeding pair of giant birds
For giant egg layers, we currently have 1/2 a pair of ravens, sparrows, bluejays, and copperhead snakes. I've only been able to trade away 10x each caravan's value with old clothes, sub-quality furniture, and extra prepared meals.
A major factor that has been slowing down the fort are dealing with the trade caravans. As mentioned earlier, dealing with worn out clothing is a very job intensive task, exacerbated by the distances dwarves have to walk. Imports are mostly just food and metals, which haven't required much labor in comparison both in terms on number of jobs and distance for each job. There's no shortage of precious metals, but keeping clothing fresh absolutely depends on importing leather and cloth from the fall caravan each year. The humans have stopped bringing those for some reason. Also, I'm confident that eventually the elves will bring the right combination of giant animals to either enhance the military, or boost the food exports.
I don't see myself getting bored with this fort just yet. But I did find an adamantine spire in the 3rd cavern level, so there is definitely a real risk of spectacular demise depending on how recklessly I approach it. I'm still looking for a better image hosting service, but am not very good at that sort of thing, so for now, Imgur it is. 
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Topic: Long Term Fort (Read 9683 times)